From Athan Agbakwuru, Owerri
The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, Abuja has declared Imo State as the state with the least corrupt public officials in Nigeria, the Imo State Public Enlightenment office, disclosed.
According to a press release issued yesterday in Owerri by Hon. Eze Ugochukwu(Ochiwar), Senior Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Enlightenment, the latest rating was contained in a report released by the NBS titled, “The 2nd Corruption Survey Report in Nigeria,” released last Friday at the State House Conference Centre.
He stated that the NBS said it conducted the survey with the support of the United Nations’ Office on Drugs and Crime, in collaboration with other partner international agencies.
The SSA, further hinted that highlights of the survey were presented by the Statistician-General of the National Bureau, Dr Yemi Kale, and the Country Representative of the UNODC in Nigeria, Mr Oliver Stople.
The governor’s aide hinted that the first corruption survey report on Nigeria was conducted in the last half of 2018, where Imo State was ranked very high in the corruption index.
According to him, “The NBS described the 2019 report as ”home grown”, disclosing that data was collected from a total of 33,067 persons in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
“The survey was developed as a tool to assess the impact of the measures put in place by States in fighting corruption in the period since after the 2019 elections. It also gives Nigerians the opportunity to assess and evaluate the impact of those measures.”
He added that the report gave a state-by-state record of the corruption index in Nigeria, with Kogi State leading as the most corrupt state (48%), followed by Gombe at 43% while Imo is the least corrupt state in Nigeria with 17.6, followed by Jigawa and Plateau states.
“The report also suggested that there is a remarkable decrease in the prevalence of corruption in Imo State in the short time span.
“In the survey also, Nigerians identified Unemployment, Insecurity and Corruption as the biggest problems of the country,” he said.
Meanwhile Governor Emeka Ihedioha of Imo State has expressed satisfaction with the latest rating by the NBS but maintained that he was not surprised at that because of the measures his young administration has put in place to check corruption in the public sector.
